Demographics of Ivory Coast

Cote d Ivoire demography.png|Demographics of Ivory Coast from Our World in Data, 2022; number of inhabitants in thousands. Côte d'Ivoire Population 1950-2021 Forecast 2022-2032 UN World Population Prospects 2022.svg|Population, fertility rate and net reproduction rate, United Nations estimates According to the total population was in , compared to only 2 630 000 in 1950. The proportion of children below the age of 15 in 2010 was 40.9%, 55.3% was between 15 and 65 years of age, while 3.8% was 65 years or older. ==Vital statistics==

Registration of vital events in the Ivory Coast is not complete. The website Our World in Data prepared the following estimates based on statistics from the Population Department of the United Nations. Age distribution Demographic and health surveys Total fertility rate (TFR) (wanted fertility rate) and crude birth rate (CBR): Fertility data as of 2011-2012 (DHS Program): ==Ethnic groups==

Ivory Coast has more than 60 ethnic groups, usually classified into five principal divisions: Akan (east and center, including Lagoon peoples of the southeast), Krou (southwest), Southern Mandé (west), Northern Mandé (northwest), Sénoufo/Lobi (north center and northeast). The Baoulés, in the Akan division, probably comprise the largest single subgroup with 15%-20% of the population. They are based in the central region around Bouaké and Yamoussoukro. The Bétés in the Krou division, the Sénoufos in the north, and the Malinkés in the northwest and the cities are the next largest groups, with 10%-15% of the national population. Most of the principal divisions have a significant presence in neighboring countries. ==Migration==

Immigration Of the more than 5 million non-Ivorian Africans living in Ivory Coast, one-third to one-half are from Burkina Faso; the rest are from Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Benin, Senegal, Liberia, and Mauritania. Non-Africans in the country include French people, Lebanese people, Vietnamese people, Spaniards, Americans and Canadians. Emigration The table below shows the number of people born in Ivory Coast who have migrated to OECD countries only (the table only includes communities consisting of at least 1,000 members). ==Languages==

French is the official language, while there are 60 living indigenous languages spoken in Ivory Coast. The Dioula dialect of Bambara is the most widely spoken one. Other language groups include the Gur languages, the Kru languages (including the Bété languages, Dida, Nyabwa, Wè, and Western Krahn), the Kwa languages (including Akan, Anyin, and Baoulé), and the Senufo languages. ==Religion==

The economic development and relative prosperity of Ivory Coast fostered huge demographic shifts during the 20th century. "In 1922, an estimated 100,000 out of 1.6 million (or 6 percent) of people in Côte d'Ivoire were Muslims. By contrast, at independence (in 1960), their share of the population had increased rapidly, and Muslims were moving southward to the cocoa-producing areas and the southern cities. By 1998, [...], Muslims constituted a majority in the north of the country, and approximately 38.6 percent of the total population. This was a significantly larger population than the next largest religious group, Christians, who constituted approximately 29.1 percent of the total." In earlier decades, this shift was mainly due to large-scale immigration from neighboring countries of the interior, that has been going on since colonial times and continued to be promoted during the Houphouet-Boigny era. Since the 1990s, the widening conversion gap between different religious groups has started to tilt the demographic balance in favor of Christians. According to the last census of 2021 Muslims make up 42.5% of population (42.9% in 2014) and Christians 39.8% (33.9% in 2014). ==See also==